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The French government on Sunday urged US president Donald Trump not to interfere in French politics after Mr Trump posted tweets about the protests rocking the country and attacked the Paris climate agreement.
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told LCI television that France does not take domestic American politics into account and wants that to be reciprocated.
Mr Trump had on Saturday posted two tweets referring to the “yellow vest” protests that have swept France since mid-November and sparked rioting in Paris. He had earlier posted, the Paris Agreement isn’t working out so well for Paris.
Very sad day & night in Paris. Maybe it’s time to end the ridiculous and extremely expensive Paris Agreement and return money back to the people in the form of lower taxes? The U.S. was way ahead of the curve on that and the only major country where emissions went down last year!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2018
Yesterday Police fired tear gas on protesters in Paris as a fourth weekend of protests against increase of fuel tax turned violent.
Some 125,000 people took to the streets across the country, officials said, with around 10,000 gathering in Paris.
Protests in several areas of Paris saw police use tear gas and water cannons against demonstrators. Some protesters set fire to cars and smashed windows.
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said 1,385 people had been arrested.
The yellow vest movement opposed fuel tax rises but Government sources say it has been hijacked by ultra-violent protesters. Last week, hundreds of people were arrested and scores injured in violence in Paris, some of the worst street clashes in the French capital for decades.
Meanwhile, the French government has said, it is scrapping the unpopular fuel tax increases in its budget and has frozen electricity and gas prices for 2019.
Speaking after the protests had ended, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the time had come for a dialogue “to knit our national unity back together.” Macron, he added, would address the protests and their grievances next week.
Belgium and the Netherlands also witnessed smaller yellow vest protests on Saturday, with police in Brussels arresting some 400 people during a march through the city center.